


Bearing Gifts

by Fire_Bear



Series: Bear of my Heart [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Damn so much fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 15:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3574509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Bear/pseuds/Fire_Bear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Christmas Eve and Arthur and Alfred are spending it together. Alfred has a pleasant surprise for Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bearing Gifts

Both Arthur and Alfred were relieved that their exams were over for the Christmas holidays. Neither had seen the other for a few weeks as they both obsessively studied, though they had messaged each other and spoke on the phone. Alfred was having a hard time of it. College work was much more demanding than high school but he worked as hard as he could. He told Arthur that it was all for his boyfriend – after all, if he failed, his career would be scuppered and what would they do then?

Christmas for both of them had always been a time for their families. They concentrated on each other for much of the year but they would pretend to be more interested in their parents and siblings and cousins on that day. It was torture but it was tradition.

This year, however, they had decided to spend the night before with each other, to open gifts and spend time with each other. Arthur's parents had even deemed it appropriate that he stayed overnight and Alfred brought him home the next morning on his way to his own parents' place.

Arthur had found the perfect present and he checked every two minutes that it was in its place on the ride there. It was going to be the perfect Christmas; he could feel it in the air.

* * *

The taxi he had ridden from the school finally arrived at the block of flats his boyfriend was in. After paying and thanking the driver, he slung his backpack onto his shoulders and walked up to the intercom. He pressed the button and waited.

He would have preferred to have just walked in, but he didn't have a key. It would be handy, he thought, if he had a spare key – then he could come and go as he pleased. And, if Alfred had been having a trying day, he could get in before the other and surprise him with a home-cooked meal.

" _Artie, that you?_ " asked Alfred's static-y voice.

"If by 'Artie', you mean 'Arthur', then, yes," drawled Arthur, rolling his eyes. "And I thought this thing had a camera?" he added, tapping at the little glass dot above the speaker.

" _It's broken – somehow,_ " sighed Alfred. " _Come on up._ " And, with that, there came a buzzing noise from the door. " _Hurry!_ " cried Alfred as Arthur took his time to open it.

"All right, all right!" Arthur shouted back as he entered.

Deciding to get some exercise, Arthur chose to take the stairs and climbed three flights to the fourth floor. That always confused and irritated him. Why on Earth did they call it the fourth when there were only three flights of stairs? Why was the ground floor considered the first?

When he finally reached his boyfriend's door, it was open, Alfred hopping impatiently. "Why didn't you take the elevator?" he wailed.

"For three floors?" scoffed Arthur. "I'm not so lazy as to do _that_."

Alfred pouted. "But it would've gotten ya here faster."

Gazing at his expression, Arthur's heart swelled. Although it bemused him how he managed to act far more mature than his older boyfriend, he couldn't deny that he was cute when he wanted to be. Apparently, now was the time to do so – and attempt to make Arthur feel bad for keeping him waiting.

"Darling," he sighed, knowing how Alfred loved his pet names. "We have a whole 24 hours to ourselves. It doesn't matter how long it takes me to get here, for I shall not leave your side – for a while."

The American grinned. "Well, I figured you'd use the stairs, so I've made some tea. Hurry, hurry!"

"Yes, yes," said Arthur dismissively. He entered the flat, slipped off his shoes and put down his bag before turning to Alfred who had shut the door. Leaning up on his tiptoes he gave Alfred a quick peck to the cheek before pulling off his gloves.

"Ah, baby, d'ya need help with your coat?" asked Alfred with a grin.

"Shut it, you," said Arthur, scowling a little as he shoved the gloves in his pocket. He hated the name 'baby' – it made their age difference far too stark, in his opinion. "I'm fine-" he began only to be stopped as Alfred reached forward and began unbuttoning it, running his fingers lightly down his chest. The coat itself was a beige trench coat that Alfred had insisted made him look like a far neater 'Castiel' from Supernatural. After Arthur had claimed no knowledge of the angel in question, the marathon of Supernatural he had been forced to endure had actually been a fun weekend. Now, though, it was quickly slipped off, leaving Arthur with his scarf and school uniform.

"Why the heck are you wearing _that_?" asked Alfred, incredulous.

"I'll get changed, geez," sighed Arthur as he removed his scarf. "I had some things to sort out for January so I had to go to the school. There's nowhere to get changed there, since everything bar the student council room was locked, so I'll be using the bedroom. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course no- Ah! No, use the bathroom!" exclaimed Alfred, suddenly looking worried.

Arthur blinked as he took his coat from Alfred's hands and hung it up with his scarf. "Why? What's wrong with your room?"

"I-It's just..." The older of the two squirmed and glanced towards the room in question. "Your present's in there – I don't want you seeing it by accident or something before I get to surprise you."

"Fine," sighed Arthur. "I'm not going to go looking for it, you know, but I'll respect your wishes." Crouching down, he unzipped his bag and removed the clothes he intended to wear. "I'll leave my bag for you to put in there, then, whilst I get changed."

"Right!" said Alfred, looking cheerful again. "And, when you're coming out, just leave your uniform in the laundry basket. I'll wash 'em for you before New Year's, 'kay?"

Arthur blushed and looked down at the floor. "You don't really need to..." he murmured.

But Alfred leaned down and pulled Arthur's face up with both hands gently cupped around his cheeks. "I'm gonna do it, dontcha worry 'bout it." He kissed Arthur on the lips, a chaste one with a smile. "Love you," he said as he lifted Arthur's bag off the floor.

"Love you, too," Arthur replied as he followed his boyfriend down the hall before turning into the toilet.

* * *

Arthur stepped out of the bathroom and dumped his school uniform into the laundry basket. He had opted to wear something comfortable and easy to remove – baggy tracksuit bottoms (which may have originally been Alfred's) tied as tightly as possible at the waist and a slightly too big Firefly t-shirt (he had accidentally bought the wrong size, what with the differences between British and American sizing). It was his favourite one, the dinosaurs with the infamous line written on it. He remembered snorting with laughter as he tried to remain sceptical of the show about "space cowboys" that his then friend had insisted he watch.

Wondering whether Alfred would be in the kitchen with the tea or in the living room, Arthur decided to check the latter first. He crossed the hall in a few strides and opened the door. What he saw on the other side, though, caused him to freeze.

The furniture had been pushed to the side so that a large, red-chequered blanket could lie flat on the floor. Upon the blanket were several plates of small, triangular sandwiches and cocktail sausages and chicken wings and lots of other finger foods. There was even a cake stand with numerous cupcakes resting on it. Seated there, ready to eat, were several of his own teddy bears, including the one he had made to look like Alfred (which he had hugged tightly during the days he had to study for his exams) and the one Alfred had given to him all those years ago.

"Merry Christmas, Arthur," said Alfred from behind him and Arthur spun around.

"W-What...?" he managed to say as he stared at the tray in Alfred's hands. Upon it was a tea set, entirely adorned with small teddy bears. It was extremely cute and it made Arthur's heart swell with pride and love. "You've got a teapot," he said, a little hoarse in his surprise.

"Yup," said Alfred with a grin. "This is one of my Christmas presents for you. D'ya like it?"

"Oh, Al," breathed Arthur, his expression softening to one saturated with love. "Of course I do."

"Great. I thought you could leave the teapot here and ya can make tea whenever you come over. I know you hate making it in the mug and everything. And, look – teddy bears!"

"Speaking of which," Arthur interjected when Alfred took a breath from his excited ramblings. "Why are mine here?"

"Ah, well, I was thinking, ages ago, before summer ended, that we could go for a picnic. But then, somehow, I remembered all your teddies and thought it'd be epic to have a teddy bears' picnic with you, right? 'Cause I thought you'd _love_ that. But you wouldn't want to do it outside or nothing so I dismissed that in the summer. Then I was thinking of something to get ya for Christmas and I remembered that idea. So I asked your parents to give me them this morning when I knew you wouldn't be in – I'd already called and your brother told me you were doing 'important Student Council President' things today." Alfred, who had been grinning as he recounted his tale, suddenly shifted uncomfortably and his smile turned sheepish. "Er, you don't mind, right?"

There was silence as Arthur stared. Then, just as silently, he took the tray and set it carefully on the blanket before returning to stand before Alfred. "Of course I don't mind," he sighed, exasperatedly, as he threw his arms around Alfred's neck. "I _love_ it. Thank you so much, darling." And, with that, he kissed Alfred full on the lips.

This time, instead of a quick peck, Arthur opened his mouth a little and tilted his head slightly. Alfred could never resist slipping his tongue into Arthur's mouth any chance he could get and now was no exception. Arthur had gotten used to Alfred dominating most of the time and he let him – most of the time, now included.

Suddenly, Alfred pulled away. "Ah, uh, Artie," he panted. "Not in front of the kids." He grinned at his boyfriend and nodded to the teddies.

Arthur smirked. "And quite right, too. Shall we?"

"Definitely!" Alfred nodded vigorously and they both sat down. "I, er, like what you're wearing," he added, his cheeks a little pink, a shy smile playing at his lips. He really looked adorable when he acted like that – Arthur could tell what he was really thinking so he smirked.

"Thank you," he said as he reached for the pot.

"Ah, no!" cried Alfred and grabbed for the pot, too. They both froze and Arthur looked at Alfred with a raised eyebrow. "I... I wanna pour it."

"Okay," acquiesced Arthur with a sigh.

Alfred grinned widely and quickly poured some. "I iced the cakes, by the way," he said as he worked. "My oven's broken so I couldn't actually bake any..."

"Maybe I should have," suggested Arthur. When Alfred flinched, he sighed. "I'm not _that_ bad. It's only been a couple of incidents."

"Coupla hundred," muttered Alfred. Arthur threw a sandwich at him. "Hey! Don't throw the food! This is supposed to be all civilised and shit."

"Your lack of eloquence for such a task is aggravating," said Arthur, turning his nose up in mock disgust.

"Like you're much better," Alfred argued, sounding grumpy. When Arthur looked back at him, he was pouting. "Well? Do you like your tea?"

Taking the cup and saucer handed to him – it was really adorable and he couldn't wait to use them more – Arthur quickly sipped at it. Surprised, he nodded. "Yes, that's much better than usual. Thank you."

"No problem!" said Alfred, grinning. "So... How was your Student Council stuff?"

"Oh, God," groaned Arthur. "I'm regretting becoming the bloody president..." With that, he launched into a tirade of why his subordinates weren't useful in the least. Their discussion was interrupted by bouts of eating the sandwiches and cakes. Occasionally, one or the other of them would pick up a teddy and have it 'talk' to the other. The hysterics from these usually lasted a few minutes, but they were refreshed with a cup of tea – until it ran out.

"Bollocks," sighed Arthur as he tried to pour himself another cup. "I'll go-"

"No!" Alfred cried, leaping to his feet. "I'll go!"

Arthur chuckled slightly. "You're too kind to me," he said, smiling softly.

"Well, anything for you." Alfred leant over, scooped up the tray, pecked Arthur's cheek and was suddenly gone, leaving Arthur with his teddies.

* * *

What on Earth was taking his boyfriend so long? Surely it didn't take that long to boil a kettle? Had he put too much water in again?

With a sigh, Arthur carefully placed the teddy he had opted to call Opal back in her place. Just as he was about to rise, though, the handle rattled and he paused, glancing over. It seemed he was worrying for nothing.

The door opened and Alfred walked in, carrying the tray – and sporting bear ears on his head. Not only that, but he was wearing a tight, white t-shirt and equally tight, black jeans. His feet were now bare as he stepped around the teddies. Arthur sat frozen and stared.

"Uh, hi, Artie. Some more of your present," he explained as he bobbed his head. It seemed that the ears were not a headband: rather, they were individually pinned to his hair. "And! Look!" With that, Alfred turned and shook his behind, showing off a tail tied to a loop in his jeans so that it appeared to be poking through his trousers.

"What...?" Arthur said, very confused – and, oddly, elated.

Alfred turned back around. "I'm your own, life-sized, awesome teddy bear!" he declared, grinning.

Once again, there was silence as Arthur took in what he had said. To think, the man had gone this far. He broke into a wide smile. "Well, don't sit down over there where I can't reach you. I need you over here" - he patted the space on the floor beside him - "so I can cuddle you, you know."

Beaming, Alfred did as he was told, fighting to keep the tray steady as he knelt down and settled himself. Arthur rolled his eyes. Any sensible person would have put it down first. Finally, he was comfortable and he placed the tray on the blanket.

The breath caught in Arthur's throat as he goggled at the item Alfred had been trying to hide till the last moment. A small box sat nestled between the teapot and the milk jug. Arthur couldn't believe it. He wasn't asking him to... was he? The Englishman could barely let himself think it, never mind answer. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't say yes – he still had half a year at school, for God's sake! But... he didn't want to say no...

He looked to Alfred for answers but found more questions. The man was gazing at him with a soft smile, a twinkle in his eyes. Was he really going to ask him in the middle of a blooming teddy bears' picnic?!

"Al?" he croaked, not quite sure if he was still breathing.

"Calm down, Artie," said Alfred. "It's not _that_. Hang on." He picked up the box and turned to Arthur, opening it reverentially.

Inside, something silver glinted, making Arthur's heart stop. It was true he had been thinking it would be more efficient but... Was he asking him something different? Was he asking him to _move in_ , of all things? For, inside that innocuous box, was a small, silver key. A key which could open a door.

"It's for the apartment," Alfred confirmed. "It's really just a spare key, okay," he added, lowering the box so that he could look Arthur in the eyes. "I'm not asking you to m-move in... I mean, not yet- Not that I mean- Er..."

Funnily enough, despite the stammering, Arthur understood perfectly. He flung his arms around Alfred's neck and pulled him close, pecking his cheek before holding him close. "Thank you. Thank you, Al! This is... Ah, all of this is amazing. Thank you so much."

Alfred chuckled and wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist, pulling him as close as they could get with their clothes still on. They stayed like that for a few moments.

However, Arthur's thoughts soon turned from contentment to his own present. After everything he had just been given by his brilliant boyfriend, he was going to turn around and hand him a small box. A single box. There was nothing else. How could he have been so selfish?

"Art? Are you crying?" asked Alfred, suddenly, obviously alarmed at the wetness on his neck. "What's wrong?"

Pulling away, Arthur looked elsewhere in shame. "I-I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"What for?" Alfred was staring at Arthur in confusion. He reached for the Brit but Arthur shook his head and jerked his arm away. "Artie, c'mon. Tell me what's wrong."

"I-I didn't... I only got you... one present," Arthur managed to say through his quiet sobs. "I-I didn't think... And then you got- All of these presents – I don't deserve them, Al!"

Sobbing filled the room as Alfred stared at him. Arthur tried to look away but he had always been drawn to looking at his boyfriend and, now, he kept glancing back, worriedly checking for disappointment. Finally, Alfred's shocked expression morphed into a fond smile.

"Don't be silly," he said, still smiling. "Anything you get me will be _awesome_. It always is."

Somehow, through his tears, Arthur blushed. "You don't mean that..."

"Yeah, I do. Lemme see it, honey. Honestly, I'm just glad to see you after so long."

Eventually, Arthur stopped crying. Alfred gently wiped away his tears with his thumbs, a smile still permanently fixed to his face. Nodding, Arthur shakily said, "Okay. I'll go get it."

He rose and hurried from the room, taking deep breaths to calm himself. Being away from Alfred made him want to burst into tears again. Berating himself for being such an idiot, he pulled the box from his bag and returned. Once he had knelt beside Alfred once more, he handed it over.

"Is it the key to your heart?" joked Alfred. "I mean, I didn't think I needed more than one."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Just open it."

So Alfred did. He paused once he had, staring at it, a small frown on his face. Arthur couldn't work out whether he was disappointed or confused. Slowly, Alfred pulled the thing out, the quiet clinking filling the room as Arthur held his breath. Alfred turned the dogtags round and gazed at it before looking to Arthur for an explanation.

"Well, er, you always loved World War Two in History, so, when I saw these, I had to buy them. And I made sure to get your name on it. The serial number is your birthday and the number from your American football shirt. I-I didn't put the rest of it, you know, where you come from and all that. I don't want people who meet you on the street to know too much about you."

"But it's only on one of them."

"Ah, I didn't think I should put it on both..." Arthur trailed off, staring at one of his teddies. He was feeling an urge to hug one of them right now.

Instead, he was pulled into a hug by a very different teddy. "Thank you, Arthur! It's awesome!"

"R-Really?" asked Arthur in disbelief, pulling away slightly. When he looked into his boyfriend's eyes, he could see the sincerity within them. "You truly like it?"

"No way – I love it!" With that, Alfred pulled them over his head – and bear ears – to settle around his neck. "See? I told you it wouldn't matter if you'd gotten one or a hundred. Everything you've given me is perfect."

Feeling a blush creeping onto his cheeks, Arthur turned his head slightly. That didn't stop him from being crushed in another hug. "But... I _did_ think of something else." he muttered.

"Oh?"

"We need to be in the bedroom for that, though."

A pause. " _Oh_!"

* * *

"Your parents throw an awesome New Year's party," said Alfred, grinning as he handed Arthur a tall glass.

"Is this champagne?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup. Swiped it off the table. Drink it, quick, before your parents see you with it."

Arthur smirked. "You know fine well I've been drunk before. And my parents said I could have one glass, anyway."

"How many have you had?"

"This is my third."

"Is that why you're swaying, babe?" asked Alfred, sweetly, grinning widely.

"Oh, shut up," sighed Arthur. He nodded at the large digital clock his parents had affixed (temporarily) to the wall. "We've only got a couple of minutes."

"Yup." Alfred sneaked a sip of his champagne and his shirt shifted a little. A glint of something underneath caught Arthur's eye and, before Alfred could protest, Arthur caught it and pulled. The dogtags clinked as they came into view.

The boyfriends shared a smile. Arthur handed Alfred his glass and stepped closer, turning the tags over in his hands. He was about to say something when he noticed something. Only one of them had been engraved when he had given them but, now, there were words on the other. Looking closer, his eyes widened at what he saw: his own name within a heart. It was a simple design but made Arthur's own heart beat faster. A fond smile slipped onto his face as he gazed up at his boyfriend.

"Ten!" shouted the people around them, all of a sudden. "Nine!"

"You..." murmured Arthur.

"Hey, you get to have that teddy to comfort you when I'm not around," explained Alfred, blushing slightly. "Now I have something to hold onto when _you're_ not around."

"Two!"

Arthur didn't respond in words. Instead, he slowly wrapped his arms around Alfred's neck and kissed him.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by my mum mentioning a teddy bear's picnic - the one she was talking about was for, like, Primary School children and younger but I totally want one.
> 
> Also, I had a big explanation for the key (copying it from my own notes): The reason for the key, though, is that Alfred and Arthur have had a couple of irritating happenstances where Arthur came to visit only for Alfred to be gaming with his headphones on. Arthur was stuck outside for a while. Or the time he sent Arthur ahead with the key, only to realise he needed to buzz and wait for Arthur to answer (and Arthur had never answered it before and couldn't figure it out so had to ride down in the lift and open the door manually. By the time he got down, someone had been in the process of leaving and had already opened the door.) He thought this would be easier, even if they're not living together.


End file.
